This program has been established to bring together a team of investigators of proven competence in biomedical research whose interests span membrane and proteoglycan structure and function, carbohydrate and glycoconjugate analytical chemistry in order to make fundamental improvements in the analytical methodologies which are a common necessity for their studies. A major focus of the program is to provide a single core facility for structure and sequence investigations of proteoglycans, glycoproteins and related carbohydrate oligomers by high pressure liquid chromatography and the latest techniques in mass spectrometry. This consolidation of effort provides for not only the elements of economy and efficiency, but gathers the expertise of several laboratories specializing in glycoconjugate synthesis, carbohydrate mass spectrometry and computer programming. The major priority for the coming year is to extend our overall sensitivity for sequence and linkage analysis of carbohydrate oligomers by using negative-ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry on the methylated trifluorocetylated nitrile derivatives. This analytical methodology will be applied to the membrane derived oligosaccharides isolated by Dr. Kennedy's group and the lipid linked oligosaccharides studied in Dr. Robbin's laboratory. Sulfated carbohydrate products synthesized by Dr. Jeanloz's group and isolated fragments of heparin obtained by Dr. Rosenberg's laboratory will be studied by field desorption mass spectrometry to support their investigations into this difficult area. Adjunct techniques of ionization, specifically desorptive chemical ionization, appear very attractive for analyzing these materials and will be investigated.